One might assume the revival of the Russian seven-string guitar would be in the motherland, but it has found an unlikely home in Iowa City.

The eighth-annual Russian Seven-String Guitar Festival, or IARGUS, is kicking off at 7:30 p.m. today at Old Brick Church.

The festival is hosted by the International Academy for Russian Music, Arts, and Culture, a local nonprofit run by Iowa City residents Oleg Timofeyev and his wife, Sabine Gölz.

Timofeyev moved to Iowa from Moscow in 1989 when Gölz received a tenured position at the University of Iowa. He initially planned to hold an all-encompassing Russian cultural festival in 2004, including music, actors, exhibitions and films.

Instead, Timofeyev focused the festival around the Russian guitar, a specialized instrument that he has studied and performed with for more than 30 years.

"The Russian guitar is a unique instrument, and it has it's unique tuning and unique repertoire," he said. "Our festival is the only festival in the world, including Russia, that is solely dedicated to this instrument. Iowa City is the mecca of our revival."

The Russian guitar has a relatively brief history, arriving in Russia at the start of the 18th century when Count Orlov brought gypsies from Moldavia to entertain the court, Timofeyev said. It grew popular among the aristocracy during the first half of the 19th century but reached the hands of the public during the last half.

"But when the Russian Revolution happened, there was no room for any guitar," he said. "It was a time of brass music and marches, and guitar was sort of a symbol of the bourgeois. It was a bad thing."

The instrument has since spread to the United States, Scandinavia and Australia.

Despite having such a rich tradition, Timofeyev estimated there are fewer than 20 musicians in the world who play the instrument, about half of whom perform professionally.

This week's festival features talent from Moscow, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New York City, California and Dubuque.

Stefan Wester, a Swedish classical and Russian guitarist, said he performed at the festival in 2008 and returned to meet more members of his micro-music community.

Wester said he picked up the seven-string guitar after discovering "this beautiful music that was hidden behind the Iron Curtain."

"It was not known in the Western world, this old music from the 19th century, and I started to play it on the guitar and it didn't work very well," he said. "Then, I found out, 'Oh, I need a seven-string guitar to play this music,' and that's when it all began."

Yuri Vedenyapin, of Cambridge, UK, said he specializes in Yiddish music and found it difficult to jump from six strings to seven.

"The two instruments are that different," he said. "You would think it is one extra string and a slightly different tuning, but it makes a tremendous difference. All of a sudden you feel completely disoriented. It's worse than having to drive in the UK."

Timofeyev said he hopes the festival will encourage others to pick up the celebrated instrument.

"Our goal is to bring it back because it's absolutely the best expression of Russian musical soul, so to speak," he said.

Reach Aly Brown at 887-5404 or abrown11@press-citizen.com.

8th annual Russian Seven-string Guitar Festival

• Today: 7:30 p.m., Old Brick Church, "Semistrunka!", solo and duet music for the Russian guitar.